


Pipe Dreams

by Hollowgayle



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Mindless Fluff, Mutual Pining, Petting (Literally)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-26 21:43:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18725560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hollowgayle/pseuds/Hollowgayle
Summary: Catra has a habit of choosing inopportune places to sleep.OR:May I propose: Catra falling asleep somewhere Bad, like inside a cabinet, and waking up in some kind of hilarious predicament, like being stuck inside a cabinet. Adora could get her out of it but Catra is too Catra to let her know she's in distress.





	Pipe Dreams

**Author's Note:**

  * For [adjuvantQasida](https://archiveofourown.org/users/adjuvantQasida/gifts).



 

“Hey, Catra.”

The words, gentle and amused, are what rouses her from sleep. There’s some concern there too, but the furred cadet is less interested in that. She gives a big, feline yawn and a stretch, shoulders and back bumping against the top of the pipe she had curled up in as she opens one eye to peer at Adora. She doesn’t need the other girl to worry for her. She does enough worrying about herself for the both of them. “Hey, Adora.” The words are mumbled sleepily, and she huffs. Adora is watching her. She can tell. “What do you want, huh?”

There are a lot of things Adora wants. Adora wants Catra to stop being late to training exercises, Adora wants Catra to stop skipping meals when she doesn’t like the rations, Adora wants Catra to make an effort. She could be so much better, Adora knows it. Knows Shadow Weaver is wrong. So, what does Adora want? Arms crossed over her chest, what Adora wants is not to say any of that. “She’s only harsh on you because she cares, you know,” she says instead, and if she could see Catra’s tail behind her, its thrash might not have gone unnoticed. “You can’t keep running away to be up here, Catra. Someday someone like Octavia is gonna find you and yank you out by your ears, or worse.”

Adora is referring to the fact they’re on  _ top _ of the weapons depot, surely. And that Catra has wedged herself, ass first, into a pipe Adora is stunned accommodates her. She wonders sometimes if Catra even has bones, with how easy it is for her to contort and curl up in such seemingly cramped, uncomfortable spaces. Catra catches her silent wondering, and lifts a brow as she sets to cleaning old blood off of her palms. Her claws had dug in during training again. She doesn’t even look up at Adora as she busies herself.

“You’re not gonna let me go back to sleep, huh?”

A pause, and then, “No.”

“And you’re not gonna let me say up here either.”

The lack of response she gets to that one answers her questions, and Catra rolls mismatched eyes with a weary, overdrawn groan. When she looks up at Adora, the other girl is smirking down at her, arms still crossed, and Catra feels her face go hot, ears pressing back.  _ Embarrassing _ .

“Fine. Fine. Let me just… Let me wake up a bit.”

It’s an excuse to buy her more time. To hopefully nudge Adora back down to the barracks where she belongs, glued to Shadow Weaver, instead of here, pestering her flustered best friend. It backfires, and she watches Adora sit down across from her, crossing her legs and grabbing her ankles as she watches expectantly. Catra wiggles a bit, and sighs, glancing down to where they’re both eye level. A pause.

“And if I don’t want to go back to the barracks tonight?”

Adora shrugs, and grins knowingly. “I guess I’ll just sit here, and we’ll both get in trouble.”

Damn her. Damn her. Catra relents, wiggling again and kicking her back feet out in an effort to loosen up. This pipe is… It’s tighter than she remembers it being when she had curled up. She must be tense. Adora’s fault. A grunt, ears still flat and claws scrabbling at the edge of the pipe, before she freezes and looks at Adora with narrowed eyes, silent.

“Are you stuck?” The blonde asks after a moment, clearly struggling to keep in check a stupid grin as she leans forwards a bit on her haunches.

“W-What? No!”

The words are squawked, Catra glancing off to the side indignantly and scoffing at the concept. Of course she’s not... Stuck, she’s not  _ stuck _ . She hasn’t gotten  _ stuck _ since she was a kitten. But heat is rising to her cheeks and burning the tips of her ears, and she’s finding it harder and harder to relax with Adora  _ watching  _ her like that. 

“Stop looking at me,” she snaps at last, face burning. She has never been gladder to have fur. “You’re distracting me. Stupid.”

Adora’s giggle doesn’t help, and Catra squirms, and squirms. It’s a comical sight. It has to be her backside that’s stuck, because the rest of her is moving and scrabbling just fine on it’s own.

“I think you’re stuck.”

After significant thrashing and twisting, her tail lashing out of sight, Catra settles. Her efforts have clearly put her out of breath - Her arms are burning, and claw marks from her scrabbling score the end of the pipe. She hangs, half out of it, like a limp rag. There is a long moment of silence.

“I’m not,” she offers once more, half hearted. Adora scoots closer, and Catra watches her warily. “What are you doing?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Adora can’t stop her grinning, but god she looks sympathetic. It makes Catra warmer. This is all  _ too _ embarrassing. She thinks she might prefer dying here, in this pipe, where she is certainly stuck.

“Hey, wait a minute now-”

She can’t really get the protest out. Catra flinches away as Adora reaches out her hand tentatively, expecting maybe to be grabbed and tugged out by force. It would be well within Adora’s capability. Eyes screwed shut and head retreated as far back into the pipe (and her neck) as she can get it, there’s a heart stopping pause between the flinch and the moment she feels Adora’s fingers card through her mane. One eye opens, and she peers suspiciously out at her fellow cadet, tail still flicking slowly.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Adora’s face is hot too now, and Catra can tell, because she’s visibly pink. That makes her want to laugh. Serves her right for catching her like this, for making her too nervous and uptight to get out of the pipe in the first place-

“I thought maybe if you were more relaxed… It might be easier for you to get out,” Adora reasons, her voice so soft, around the same time she finds that spot behind Catra’s ear. A surprised chirp slips out of her before she can stop herself, and Catra gasps, struggling to swallow down a purr.

“You’re an idiot, Adora,” she manages to breathe out, shivers running up and down her spine before she gives up, weak purring starting up deep in her chest. She leans into that petting hand without thinking, toes curling. At least she got to speak her mind, she thinks, tension rolling out of her body with every breath.

“Yeah, well. You’re the one stuck in a pipe on the roof an hour before evening roll.” 

There’s a gentle kind of amusement in her best friend’s tone as she lifts her other hand to scratch and rub behind the other ear, and she’s sure that if she opened her eyes, she’d get to see more of that stupid grin. Catra wants to tell her it’s her fault. That things were confusing, now that they were older, and that sometimes she wished they could stay in all day and do nothing but this. That if she hadn’t come along, she wouldn’t have gotten nervous enough to be stuck, and that if she left right now, she’d probably figure things out just fine. 

But she doesn’t  _ want _ Adora to leave. 

What started as weak purring is only getting louder, and Catra feels one of Adora’s hands loop around her wrist, gently coaxing her forward. She opens her eyes, just to be sure Adora can see her rolling them, before a sudden yank brings her tumbling out of the pipe head first into Adora’s chest with a startled yelp.

“Adora!”

“You weren’t exactly coming out on your own,” the blonde reasons, grinning huge and peering down at her fellow cadet. Catra had thrashed midair, as always she did, and landed flat on her back in the other’s lap; As Adora reaches out towards her belly, Catra bats the hand away at the wrist with one of her back feet, blushing so hot Adora must be able to feel it and eying the hand like a snake. But after that, she stills. There is a moment of silence, the pair each caught staring stupidly.

“Thanks, I guess,” Catra says at last, and heaves out a heavy breath, last of the tension leaving her. There are worse things than being in Adora’s lap, like being late to evening roll. But… they have time. “Do that again,” she demands without thinking, and Adora lifts a brow, letting silence hang for another moment as she peers down at Catra. Catra’s ears flatten uncertainly, and for a moment she’s concerned she’s overstepped.

“...Wanna get back in the pipe, too?”

Far below, Octavia’s fin twitches - at the sound of a yowl, and at the peal of distant laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> This is crossposted to tumblr [here!](https://lesbianmagicat.tumblr.com/post/184677999939/may-i-propose-catra-falling-asleep-somewhere-bad) I'm currently accepting requests! As always, if you like my work and you have the spare change, feel free to drop me a tip on my ko-fi. It's by no means necessary but IS appreciated, and all tips go right to helping fund visits to my girlfriend!


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